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Supt Whyte told reporters Tarantino was not known to the family but said the murder was not random.

Tarantino has been "a person of interest in this investigation for 18 years", he added.

Early on in the investigation, Quanne was feared to have been abducted but her disappearance was not reported to police for about 10 hours because the school believed she was probably sick at home, while her family thought she was at school.

Her Vietnamese family refused to give up hope for Quanne, with then-premier Bob Carr offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the location of the schoolgirl.

During the investigation Detective Inspector Brad Cox said police had hypnotised witnesses, set up mannequins, and drained and searched a nearby waterway, Duck Creek, but failed to come up with answers.

The Diec family, who has searched for years for the schoolgirl, has been told of the man's arrest.